• Market competition, the challenge that brings development
Due to a number of factors, including the legislative measures that led to the reduction of the black market (considered one of the thorny problems of the industry in which we operate) or the increase in consumption, the last years have brought a development of the bakery and pastry sector. Along with it, there was also an increasingly intense competition between those present in the market. Factories have developed at a rapid pace and have come to possess significant production capacities that can satisfy the market and even create a surplus of products.
If we think about the times when demand for products from the market increases exponentially (Easter or Christmas), overcapacity is undeniably a good thing, but these periods are often followed by a downturn in demand and, moreover, they only happen a few times a year. Of course, this development also had a reverse, manifested by an increase in consumer demands, something that gave managers a headache, putting them in front of new challenges.
At the same time, it began to be felt (especially by small and medium-sized production units) the pressure of the big producers who, through massive investments, managed to lower the production price, forcing the market players to align, by making their activities more efficient.
Changing the production strategy, a viable option
In the conditions of this increased competitiveness, felt especially in bakery, where the price is often at the limit of profitability, it has become obvious that the producers must widen their portfolio with products that allow a higher added value.
Thus, in recent years, more and more bakeries have developed their pastry sections, expanding their range offered to traditional customers. On the other hand, consumers have also changed their behavior, starting to be more and more interested in products like "one bite" or in frozen and pre-cooked ones that they can find "warm" especially in large chain stores, but not only.
It should not be ignored that, in order to make such products, the production flows must be completed with a new series of equipment or that there are some additional costs (such as freezing costs for example), but equipment manufacturers offer advantageous solutions, and the price end that the customer agrees to pay is a reasonable one for the manufacturer.
Technical solutions for viewers
• Returning to the equipment manufacturers' solutions, we will first of all focus on the pastry lines canola, which attract attention through the modular system and the diversity of products that can be made. With a range of standard lines, starting from a length of 3,9 meters and ending at 9,9 meters, the manufacturer offers these lines a complete accessory that includes: calibration station, storage for fillers, humidification unit, station decoration, rolling station and guillotine for cutting.
If we also take into account the many accessories that allow us to obtain products of very different shapes and sizes, we understand how many possibilities to access new sales channels such a line offers us. Made to be baked immediately or frozen for long-term storage (or, why not, even sold frozen, as we see them promoted more and more often by the big stores), the products obtained with these lines can fit both in the range of consumer goods and premium ones, which stand out for the quality of the ingredients and for a perfect taste.
To compensate for the operator staffing crisis affecting almost all operators in our industry, canola provides an automatic system for unloading the products in the tray, thus reducing to a minimum the number of people required for the operation of the line.
Product range
• Another technical solution for the production of "one bite" products is the cookie and biscuit molding machines from ABM Italia.
Ranging from small, bench-top machines intended for labs that only want to use them a few hours a day, to large machines that reach speeds of nearly 40 lines per minute, ABM offers a full range of heads dosing system including: head for dosing doughs by flow, head with pump for dosing soft doughs, head for wire-cut products and head for products obtained by rotating the dosing bowls.
And in this case, the manufacturer adapted to the challenge of the lack of operators and offered its customers machines that need only one man, the trays automatically returning to the operator after filling.
It should be noted that in the range of the same manufacturer we also find a type of machine that can work with gluten-free dough - another opportunity that is becoming more and more interesting to be exploited on the Romanian market as well.
• The last manufacturer we will focus on is RHEON Japan. With a long tradition of producing equipment that stands out for its reliability and precision, the Japanese company impressed us with two of its product series: specialty lines and extruders.
The first category is intended for obtaining products from doughs with very high hydration (over 70%) and can make both round and string-type products. Benefiting from the famous stress free divider VX, RHEON makes a flexible line, intended to obtain products with small weights and with productivity that can reach up to 9000 pieces/hour.
Cars from the CORNUCOPIA range
When it comes to extruders, they are some of the most impressive machines used in our industry. Able to work with two or even three fillers, the machines in the CORNUCOPIA range can process up to 400 kilograms of product/hour. Thanks to a system perfected by RHEON, the filling is placed exactly in the center of the product, the dosing precision being the same every time.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this type of machine is that it can handle doughs with or without yeast, creams and pastry fillings, but equally any other raw materials that, by the nature of their consistency, can be extruded (from for example various mixtures of meat, eggs, rice...).
Thus, it allows producers to approach both the traditional market, of bakery products, pastries or biscuits, as well as the one in the catering area, broadening the horizon of the business.
Returning to the central theme of this article, it is clear that the bakery and pastry market is facing a new phase, full of trials and challenges, but it is equally clear that visionary managers have extraordinary technological solutions at hand to overcome the obstacles that I spoke.
Article made by Marius Costea, Sales Director of equipment and industrial lines for bakery, pastry, confectionery
